Feeding a 3090

[Virtual-Chris 682]

Last fall I was lucky enough to get my hands on a 3090.  But I'm still running a 9700k (8C/8T) processor.  32GB of RAM.  PCIe 3 M.2 drive.  I game at 4K and get around 30-45fps on a mix of high/ultra settings.

Is there any other aspects I can upgrade that will help feed the 3090?  Ideally, I'd like to be able to run a higher LOD setting (using the config file) but that causes stutters - especially when combined with a photogrammetry flyover.

The recent Guru3D performance testing seems to indicate that almost nothing has much impact on performance other than the GPU but I'm wondering if anyone here has tried pushing the envelope.  For example, I've seen a few posts where people are reporting better results with 64GB of RAM.

With the 5800x now readily available, I could upgrade my Mobo, CPU, go to 64GB of ram and a PCIe 4.0 M.2 drive... effectively doubling my threads, ram, and storage speed while increasing single-thread performance slightly.  Will any of this make any difference?

Edited March 10, 2021 by Virtual-Chris

[Maxis 1,857]

Just now, Virtual-Chris said:

Last fall I was lucky enough to get my hands on a 3090.  But I'm still running a 9700k (8C/8T) processor.  32GB of RAM.  PCIe 3 M.2 drive.  I game at 4K and get around 30-45fps on a mix of high/ultra settings.

Is there any other aspects I can upgrade that will help feed the 3090?  Ideally, I'd like to be able to run a higher LOD setting (using the config file) but that causes stutters - especially when combined with a photogrammetry flyover.

The recent Guru3D performance testing seems to indicate that almost nothing has much impact on performance other than the GPU but I'm wondering if anyone here has tried pushing the envelope.  For example, I've seen a few posts where people are reporting better results with 64GB of RAM.

With the 5800x now readily available, I could upgrade my Mobo, CPU, go to 64GB of ram and a PCIe 4.0 M.2 drive... effectively doubling my threads, ram, and storage speed.  Will this make any difference?

You need a better cpu.

HOWEVER. The question becomes .. is it worth it at the end of the day if you put the money down and your framerates take a dunk if the software gets modified against your will and your back at square one? Can you live with sitting it out for a month until the developer gets around to bringing the software back in line with how you expected it to perform ?

If your ok with dealing with the questions above then sure. Go find a 5800x (450), new MB (200 plus) ram (200plus) and a new m.2 (200plus) have at it.

I would hope for your sake that this isnt a 100% flightsim dedicated rig. Because mine is and I'm admittedly rather salty right now about the present experience on this flightsim journey. But honestly if you can handle the journey better have at it.

Cheers

 

[Virtual-Chris 682]

51 minutes ago, Maxis said:

You need a better cpu.

HOWEVER. The question becomes .. is it worth it at the end of the day if you put the money down and your framerates take a dunk if the software gets modified against your will and your back at square one? Can you live with sitting it out for a month until the developer gets around to bringing the software back in line with how you expected it to perform ?

If your ok with dealing with the questions above then sure. Go find a 5800x (450), new MB (200 plus) ram (200plus) and a new m.2 (200plus) have at it.

I would hope for your sake that this isnt a 100% flightsim dedicated rig. Because mine is and I'm admittedly rather salty right now about the present experience on this flightsim journey. But honestly if you can handle the journey better have at it.

Cheers

 

Good points. I became so frustrated with the sim back in Dec that I took a couple of months away to do other things (and games). 

I was hopeful that this Sim 3 release would fix a lot of issues (particularly with doing a U-turn after adding an approach) but as usual, this update appears disappointing. 

However, I just got a Bravo throttle quadrant after a 6 month wait. And I was waiting for Intel 11th gen results before deciding what to do with my system, but those are equally disappointing. 

The $1000 it would take to overhaul my system isn’t a huge deal after all the other money sunk into this hobby and my gaming in general.

My biggest concern is the Guru3D article that basically concluded that cores, RAM and Intel vs AMD make virtually zero difference. But, yeah, it seems every MSFS update brings a performance hit, added CTDs, visual compromises are a combo of all three. 
 

Maybe I should sit this out a bit longer. But I do want to at least do some VFR around some of the worlds great places to see. I dunno... tinkering with my PC is equally as fun as using it so there’s that. 

Edited March 10, 2021 by Virtual-Chris

[Av8ing1 46]

Have you looked at the developer modes FPS counter? At 4K even with your 3090 I would think you are GPU limited. If so its unlikely you would find much benefit from a CPU upgrade. I also like to tinker with the machine, so I'd add more ram to get up to 64GB just in case it does actually help the 3090.

I think what is really needed for 4K in this sim is a 15900K and a 5090Ti.....

[Virtual-Chris 682]

6 minutes ago, Av8ing1 said:

Have you looked at the developer modes FPS counter? At 4K even with your 3090 I would think you are GPU limited. If so its unlikely you would find much benefit from a CPU upgrade. I also like to tinker with the machine, so I'd add more ram to get up to 64GB just in case it does actually help the 3090.

I think what is really needed for 4K in this sim is a 15900K and a 5090Ti.....

LOL... maybe I should sit this out until I can get a 15900K and 5090Ti 😄

Last I tested it, you're right, at my mix of settings, I'm GPU limited most of the time... but photogrammetry becomes CPU limited. And, if I try to increase the LOD above 200 in the config file (e.g. LOD 4) then I also become CPU limited.

 

[Funky D 269]

As someone with an old i7-5960X and a 3090, I'm personally waiting for Intel's Alder Lake chips this winter. They are spinning the new chips as the largest leap since the Core architecture.

[Virtual-Chris 682]

14 minutes ago, Funky D said:

As someone with an old i7-5960X and a 3090, I'm personally waiting for Intel's Alder Lake chips this winter. They are spinning the new chips as the largest leap since the Core architecture.

That's certainly an option. But Intel also promised great gains with this new 11th-gen, but so far that's not being realized.  The added core-to-core latency is killing the IPC advantage.

[andy1252 3,784]

30 minutes ago, Av8ing1 said:

Have you looked at the developer modes FPS counter? At 4K even with your 3090 I would think you are GPU limited. If so its unlikely you would find much benefit from a CPU upgrade. I also like to tinker with the machine, so I'd add more ram to get up to 64GB just in case it does actually help the 3090.

I think what is really needed for 4K in this sim is a 15900K and a 5090Ti.....

I was having a discussion with a friend about graphics the other day and suggested that I might just go back to VGA and drop acid instead of worrying about all this tech. I seem to remember the graphics were pretty impressive back in the day <grin>

[Virtual-Chris 682]

18 minutes ago, andy1252 said:

I was having a discussion with a friend about graphics the other day and suggested that I might just go back to VGA and drop acid instead of worrying about all this tech. I seem to remember the graphics were pretty impressive back in the day <grin>

It's probably easier to get acid than the latest PC components! 🙂

[scotchegg 4,170]

I’ve got a 10900k and 3090 and I’m still gpu bound most of the time.

[hanhamreds 592]

I would upgrade your bundle, but don’t do it for MSFS - please don’t, you will be wasting your money.

As of now the game is actually broken, wait till the dust settles at least. 

[Amon1973 1,421]

I have a 3800x and a Nitro+ OC 6800xt GPU and I'm also GPU bound in 4K most of the time as well.

[fogboundturtle 2,708]

being GPU bound is a good thing.

[reignman40 450]

1 hour ago, Virtual-Chris said:

LOL... maybe I should sit this out until I can get a 15900K and 5090Ti 😄

 

 

But by the time you find a 5090ti the 6090 will be out and the only 5090ti you will find is a used one on ebay for $2000+

Edited March 10, 2021 by reignman40

[Rocky_53 1,566]

Interesting thread. I spent an absolute shed load of hard earned dosh on a complete new build, including an RTX3090, 32Gb RAM and an I7-10700@5Ghz. To say I am underwhelmed, would be to be frank an understatement. Yes, it has improved the fps, but the sim is still not smooth and to make things worse, it's less smooth now in P3dV4.5 than it was prior to the new build! The irony is, that this was supposed to eradicate my past frustrations with the performance of my sim, but in fact, now I haven't flown for about six weeks. I have no real enthusiasm any more and so need to take a step back until which time this sim actually performs as it should do.